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It’s a relatively common problem for Genesis Model 2 owners. The DC power jack becomes loose over time, and eventually light jiggles or movements of the power plug or system can result in power cycles or loss of power.

Luckily, it turns out to be a relatively easy fix. The issue is simply the solder joints of the DC jack to the main board. They’ve become loose over time from stress. Especially if you’ve ever yanked on the power cable sideways a few times.

To fix, simply open up the unit, which is just a matter of removing 4 screws from the bottom that hold the two shell halves together. Then remove about 10 screws that hold the metal shield over the main board. Then remove the two screws on each side of the cartridge slot to dislodge the main board.

Now locate the power jack on the mainboard. Simply flip the mainboard over and you’ll see right below the power jack are three through-hole solder joints. They are circled below:

They are quite large solder joints which is what makes this so easy. All you really have to do is reflow the solder joint. Press a solder iron to the solder to solften it, then get the tip all the way in so it touches both the jack pin and the pad. This will heat both up and allow the solder to make a good contact all around. Add some extra solder to the mess to help things out. Then pull out and if done right it should show quickly solidify into a nice concave-in sloped solder joint. If it looks concave out/bubble, or has a visible gap in solder between the leg and then pad, then it didn’t flow right, and repeat.

Do this for all three joints. It should only take about 2 minutes for all three. Making this entire fix something you can do in under 10 minutes.

To test, plug in your favorite card, and start wiggling the power cable while it’s running to make sure it isn’t very easily rebooted. Sure if you yank on it enough you’ll probably kill it again. But we just want to make sure normal movements of the jack and unit aren’t going to cause you to lose 2 hours of progress in a game.

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